The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Lobelia, botanically known as Lobelia erinus and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘LOBZ0017’.
‘LOBZ0017’ is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar has relatively large, blue flowers with white eye, medium green foliage, very good branching and a mounding to upright plant habit.
The seed from which the variety was grown originates from a cross made in the greenhouse in August 2013, The Netherlands.
The female parent was an unpatented, proprietary Lobelia plant designated ‘LOB 04-288-1’, having smaller flowers, a lighter blue flower colour with eye and a more trailing growing habit than ‘LOBZ0017’.
The male parent of ‘LOBZ0017’ was an unpatented, proprietary Lobelia plant designated ‘LOB 12-395-1’, having a similar blue color but smaller white eye, a less branching habit but similar upright plant habit than ‘LOBZ0017’.
The resulting seeds were sown in May 2014 and ‘LOBZ0017’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in September 2014 in a controlled environment in Andijk, The Netherlands.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘LOBZ0017’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in the fall of 2014 in a controlled environment in Andijk, The Netherlands.